RESPONSE to last week’s News & Mail story of the ‘scandalous’ plight of ponies left to fend for themselves on flooded land at Brookwood Lye has been overwhelming.

The animals had been ‘dumped’ illegally and left to wade through the waterlogged area scavenging for food.

Worried resident Mike Peel posted a video of the sorry sight on the Brookwood Local Area News Facebook page. Consequently, concerned members of public dropped off shedloads of hay for the hungry horses.

Meanwhile, Surrey Wildlife Trust, which owns the land, put up legal notices for the ponies’ owners to remove them from the land by a certain date or bailiffs would go in.

SWT had also been liaising with a number of charities and welfare groups, including the RSPCA, to ensure that if bailiffs had to remove the animals, they would be given alternative homes and not be put down.

One resident who delivered a bail of hay was Rosemary MacNeill, who was so delighted with the outcome, she visited the News & Mail offices in Woking to express her gratitude.

She said: “I am absolutely over the moon that something’s been done, and I think all of Brookwood will be too. I’d still like to keep an eye on the horses’ progress.”